Where our members work

The Sex Workers Academy Africa (SWAA) has held its 24th session this month, with 18 activists from three different African countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The Academy ran for 7-days from 23rd to 29th November 2020 and involved female, male and transgender sex workers.

Launched in 2014, SWAA is run by the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA). SWAA is a learning programme for community empowerment and capacity building, led by and for sex workers. It is implemented by Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA) in Nairobi, Kenya, on behalf of ASWA (KESWA is also a member of ASWA).

In October we reported on The National Human Rights Commission, India who had issued an advisory recognising sex workers as informal workers. The 11-page advisory titled 'Human Rights Advisory on rights of Women in Context of COVID-19' listed recommendations for sex workers under the women at work section.

The Count Me In! Consortium supports the voices and activism of women, girls, and trans and gender non-binary people who are often most marginalised in their communities. Among the most silenced voices are those of sex workers.

The National Human Rights Commission, India have issued an advisory recognising sex workers as informal workers. The 11-page advisory titled 'Human Rights Advisory on rights of Women in Context of COVID-19' lists recommendations for sex workers under the women at work section.

UNAIDS have published a brief that provides evidence-informed guidance to countries on how to reduce stigma and discrimination in the context of COVID-19. The brief outlines specific recommendations for addressing stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19 in six settings: community settings, including individuals, families and communities; workplace settings; education settings; health-care settings; justice settings; and emergency/humanitarian settings.

On Thursday 24th September, the Bombay High Court released three sex workers detained at a woman’s hostel and declared that adult women have the right to choose their vocation and cannot be detained without consent.

Reporting on the judgement, the Hindustan Times wrote:

NSWP member organisation Trans United Europe – founded to unite the networks of European operating Trans BPOC NGOs and individual BPOC trans activists living and working in Europe – have reported on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Trans BPOC people in Europe through NSWP’s COVID-19 Impact Survey.

This week, NSWP member organisation the Sex Workers Project announced a donation of $1.2 million from the Sex Work Rights Fund to significantly increase their capacity, size, scope, and impact. In their announcement, SWP outlined that this funding would go towards hiring a Director of Communications, Director of Development, Director of Research, Organizing, and Advocacy, and an Associate Director for State and Local Campaigns, as well as locally based organising consultants.

Sex Worker Pride began in 2019 and is an opportunity to celebrate and share stories of sex workers’ self-determination and the achievements of the sex worker rights movement. Sex Worker Pride extends to all marginalised by criminalisation, discrimination and stigma across the sex worker movement and celebrates the diversity within our community.

NSWP is seeking to develop infographic and audio-visual formats of our key advocacy tools to expand the accessibility of NSWP resources and support global campaigns and the advocacy work of regional networks and member organisations in campaigning for the rights of female, male and transgender sex workers and amplifying the voices of sex workers globally.

The Dominican Republic recorded its first coronavirus case on the 1st March 2020, and the country has since reached almost 100,000 reported cases. France 24 has published an article on the impact of COVID-19 on transgender sex workers in the Dominican Republic, speaking with Luna Veras, Henely Flores, and organisation TRANSSA, who are all based in the capital of Santo Domingo.

Coalition Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre pour le travail du sexe (CAfOC-TS) have issued a statement reporting on the human rights abuses and violence experienced by sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in francophone African countries.

CAfOC-TS – which is made up of organisations including UMANDE, And Soppeku, Blety, AFAZ - Association Femme Amazone, Alcondoms Cameroun, YERELON+, and HODSAS – work to address the problems faced by French speaking sex workers in Central and West Africa.

UNAIDS has released a new report focusing on policy responses in the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing attention to the experiences of some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities.

At the start of the year, it was hard to imagine the impact that COVID-19 would have on the world. Now, six months since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, it’s clear that the crisis is far from over and its repercussions will be felt far beyond 2020.

New Frame have written a feature on the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers in South Africa, looking specifically at the damaging impacts of criminalisation and the need to maintain a focus on the long-term policy changes that position sex workers as equal and protected citizens.